Chapter I
Another term in Academi the web, checking their social media and being consumed by the digital in general. Boys were in their black coats, while girls were in their blue and while uniforms. One student was different from the crowd, he was not looking at his phone, but instead at the entrance of the school:
"Well, looks like I am back to this academic factory for another year" He commented, with some posh in his voice. He looked at the crowd as though he was looking for someone.
"Looking for someone, Soma-san?" A male voice, with less posh distracted him from his search.
"Ah, Masuta-san, you startled me!" Riku looked at his schoolmate who was standing several inches taller than him, with coal black hair and a red bandanna on his forehead.
"I apologize. You looked very focused and my curiosity got the best of me." Budo responded bowing down to Riku.
"Apology accepted, Masuta-san. No, I was not looking for anyone in particular. Just trying to figure out the atmosphere of this establishment this year." Riku explained his earlier behavior as he and Budo walked towards their lockers. Both of their lockers were close to each other so they carried on with their conversation.
"Well, the atmosphere here is always acceptable for Martial Arts. You should join our club this year, Soma-san. It will do you some good. You will be able to fend off any threat that may come your way." Budo said as he changed his shoes to his school shoes, Riku followed suit:
"Well, I have considered it for the longest time. I would say that this year it would be important to fend off..." before Riku could finish his sentence a girl stood in between Budo and Riku, quiet and cold, the atmosphere around her felt empty, so did her movements and her expressions. Part of her hair was in a long pony tail, and the other part were in some sort of bangs that were to the sides of her head, but did not cover her forehead much. She was shorter than Budo, but about the same height as Riku.
The guys looked at her curiously, which she noticed them looking at her, but did not pay attention.
"Ayishi-San, long time no see." Riku bowed down to greet the girl, while Budo tapped her on the shoulder in a friendly matter.
"Haha, Yan-Chan is back! Ready for some sparring this year?"
Ayano visibly forcing a smile greeted both Riku and Budo:
"Soma-senpai, Masuta-senpai. Yes, it has been a while. I am certainly ready for another spar this year." She responded, almost robotically, with no emotion.
Both Riku and Budo looked at each other, they noticed that Ayano was forcing herself to smile. They knew she was a little off, but could never put two and two together, but now it was a little obvious that the girl was pretending to be someone she is not. They were well acquainted with her, but they never were friends. Budo was probably the closest to her in the whole school for being her sparring buddy in Martial Arts.
"Say, Ayishi-San, how about we go sit by the fountain and carry on with our discussions there?" Riku offered bowing down.
"Yeah, Yan-Chan, join us, tell us about your summer." Budo held her firmly by the arm. Ayano was never popular with guys, she always kept it to herself, being calm, quiet, cold and mysterious. Now she was being pulled into a conversation between two friends that were guys. For the first time she felt a sliver of fulfilment, but it was too small to make any difference.
"Alright, I guess..." She agreed nodding, the smile was gone and followed them n to the school courtyard. As they entered it, there were two people arguing by the fountain, a girl with reddish orange hair and a boy with dark hair arguing with each other.
"You were late again when I came to pick you up from your house!" The girl yelled, putting her arms on her hips.
"I am sorry, I am sorry. I overslept" The guy responded backing away.
Budo slightly smiled at this exchange, while Riku let out a slight ha. Yan-chan eyed them out of curiosity.
"Looks like Yamada-san is having issues with her again" Budo commented crossing his arms and shaking his head.
"Osana is just putting up a face, she is heads over heals for him. So is he, most likely. They have been friends since they were kids." Riku added.
"Yamada-san is it? Huh, there is a strange feeling about him..." Yan-can said looking at the two arguing. "Something intriguing. Almost as though if I approach him it might..."
Suddenly Budo saw a girl with purple hair and twin drills spying on the two arguing. He quietly points Yan chan and Riku at her.
"Look at how she is looking at him… She certainly wants to be in Osana-chan's position." Budo whispered interrupting Yan-chan.
"I wish she looked at me like that..." Riku mumbled which Yan-chan picked up on and gave Riku a confused look.
"Go and talk to her. From the looks of it she is not going to get her Senpai." Yan-chan told Riku, who blushed and did not know how to respond.
"Ol' Riku-kun has a crush on Kokona-chan I see." Budo mocked him and thought for a second. "Sounds like you will be getting her out of a mess. This whole Osana situation seems like it is serious."
"It does seem like it, doesn't it?" Yan-chan suddenly became a bit gloomy, but not much. She felt as though if she got involved in that mess it would not end well. She did not know or talk to Taro at all, she always had a strange feeling, which was unusual for her to feel to begin with, that he had a role to play and that it might, just might lead to her feeling complete.
"Is there something wrong Yan-chan?" Budo asked her, again putting his heavy hand on her shoulder. That put her a little at ease. She stood silent there, but she put her hand on Budo's, while staring at Osana and Taro. She felt like if she got involved in that situation she would be merciless, but the feeling was not strong enough for her to take any action. She could feel it grow stronger by the second though, so she decided to turn away to keep a leveled head.
"Perhaps this is good for me then, considering the circumstances. Kokona-chan would not have a Senpai anymore, and I might make my intentions clear." Before Yan-chan could respond, Riku finally broke his silence putting his hands on his cheeks.
"Not unless she confesses to him under the cherry tree. That thing is magical. The legend goes that if you confess your feelings under the tree to a person, that person is sure to accept them" Budo refuted getting his hand off Yan-chan's shoulder. She released his hand, and blushed a bit, which caught Riku's attention. He gave her this boggled look, he was not sure if she was blushing because of Taro or Budo, but it was rare to see her exhibit emotion.
"That's bollocks!" Riku shouted and shook his head in disapproval.
"I would like to see you prove it." Budo laughed back at him and went towards a bench near the fountain. Yan-chan and Riku followed. All three sat down and looked up in the sky.
"The welcome speech is not for another hour. I cannot believe they are making us come to school for this nonsense early." Riku looked at his watch not amused and disappointed that he might lose his unrequited love.
"Cheer up, Riku-san. There are plenty of fish in the sea. If you join the Martial Arts club, we have some ladies that might be interested, who knows." Budo said encouragingly.
"Or I will just kick your butt, Soma-senpai." Yan chan said in a cold voice.
"Touché" Riku sighed, accepting his defeat and Yan Chan's mannerisms with it. Suddenly he became curious about his two comrades.
"What about you two? What is your story when it comes to love endeavors? Surely, I am not the only one who had bad luck, am I?" He inquired looking at them both.
"Of course, I had to defeat someone I cared for to be where I am today." Budo responded crossing his arms. "Everything else is history. I had girls here and there I gone out with."
"Interesting. That sounds poetic and a tad bit tragic actually, fighting the woman of your dreams in a martial arts duel." Riku commented and both of the guys turned their attention to Yan-chan.
"What about you, Yan-chan? Have you ever experienced a heartbreak?" Budo asked.
"No, I really have not found that special someone and If I ever find him, I intend to keep him. Heartbreak is not an option…" She answered murmuring, looking a bit gloomy.
"She's a keeper." Budo joked and patted Yan-chan on the shoulder. "Someday you will find that special someone."
As he said those words he noticed Osana walk by them, stopping her feet on the ground in her usual manner with a slight blush.
"Osana, wait! I did not mean it like that!" Taro tried running after her, but stopped after realizing that was one of her usual outbursts.
"Let her cool off, she will come back eventually, Yamada-san." Riku smirked.
"She clearly likes you, Yamada-san. That's why she is acting this way." Budo explained in his calm and upbeat demeanor.
"I…I don't know about that. I mean we have known each other for a while, and there are endless possibilities, but I'll be honest, I won't be going out of my way to get her affections." Taro explained a little nervously scratching his head. Yan-chan looked at him with curiosity, there was this spark, this feel about this guy that she could feel. Almost as though he was the answer to her questions after years of barely feeling anything. The longing, the yearning, the strong pull towards him was difficult to explain.
"Don't sweat it. As the wise masters said, "Let the river take its path". " Budo parodied some wise Martial Arts master he took classes from or something similar to that. Those words rang in Yan-chan's ears, something clearly was happening to her, she sensed that if she let the river take its own course, her life might now have emotions or feelings from this point on.
"That is very good advice. Thank you very much Masuto-san." Taro bowed to him in gratitude, when he raised his head he looked over at Yan-chan and their eyes met for the first time. If it was not for Budo bursting out of laughter, she would have set it in stone, that this was the man of her dreams, her Senpai for good.
"Haha! Glad I could help Yamada-san." Budo laughed in response and grabbed Yan-chan by the arm. "By the way, you probably have not met, but this is Ayano Aishi."
As Budo grabbed her by the arm she got a little startled, she was out of her trance.
"Hi…ummm..." For the first time ever Yan-chan felt blood rushing to her face and her blushing. It was something she had never experienced before, she felt weak in the knees and was glad that she was sitting down. The thing that kept her a hair away from disregarding everyone in her life and focus solely on Taro was the slivers of the feeling for her two, relatively new friends: Budo and Riku, but they were not giving off the same vibe as Taro.
"Nice to meet you Aishi-san. Nice to put a name on a face finally. I'll be honest, I always thought you were weird, but seeing you with Soma-san and Masuto-san makes me feel bad for feeling that way."
"You should have seen her sparring at the Martial Arts club. She is pretty darn good." Budo complimented Yan-chan patting her on the shoulder again. Riku seeing Kokona in the back watching this conversation decided to pull off something very sudden:
"You should not judge people on how they carry themselves, Yamada-san. Aishi-san is a wonderful individual with an appreciation for felines. Last year she took a picture of a kitten behind the school for me. I still have it hanging on my wall at my house. No, this is really, really not acceptable. You owe Aishi-san a dinner or something of sorts… Get to know her better to fix your mistake." Riku said in a firm voice standing up.
"Alright, alright. That is a fair point, but I can't, I promised Osana this week. Maybe next week?" Taro gave Yan-chan an uneasy smile. "Actually, what's your number, I… I can text you if you want?"
He gave his phone for Yan-chan to punch in her number. She smiled, blushing and took it with her sweating and shaking hands and entered her number. As she gave his phone back it buzzed, she noticed that the text was from Osana. Yan-chan was both feeling excited, but also extremely worried that what might transpire this week could jeopardize this opportunity.
"Thank you." Taro bowed down and after reading the text left in a bit of a hurry.
"You went along with it! Thank you so much!" Riku exclaimed asking a shocked Yan-chan a high five.
"That was a bit unexpected, huh." Budo looked at the direction where Taro left. "I understand your affections for Haruka-san, but putting Yan-chan on the spot like that was a bit uncalled for."
"Thank you, Soma-senpai." Yan-chan said and smiled putting her hand on her cheek, puzzling Budo and making Riku happy.
"See, Masuta-san? She is happy I did this." Riku smiled.
"Well, genius, Kokona and Osana might not allow them to have that… whatever you arranged between Taro and Yan-chan." Budo pointed out the difficulty of the situation again, but this time it affected Yan-chan quite differently. His voice had a lot more frustration than initially.
"NO! I WON'T LET HIM GO LIKE THIS." Yan-chan suddenly stood up from the bench full of rage and was about to storm off, when suddenly Budo halted her by the shoulder. Riku was taken a back from what he was seeing transpire. Something was very much off.
"Want to get that steam out sparring instead? Looks like you have a lot on your mind there, Yan-chan." Budo held her shoulder firmly. He had a feeling that whatever ideas were going through her head
"I need to go! They are going to take senpai away from me!" She said in an angry, shaky voice. Budo noticed that she was going a little crazy, he could not figure out why, but the quiet Yan-chan suddenly was irate, full of rage and not far from dangerous.
"Cool down, Yan-chan, you barely met the guy. Can't we talk about this like civilized adults?" Budo held her firmly as she tried to get away. He looked at Riku and shook his head in disapproval. He promptly carried Yan-chan in to the hallway and pinned her to the ground, as tears started falling from her eyes:
"I just want my Senpai… They are going to have him… before I get the chance…" Yan-chan started sobbing.
"Let it all out…" Budo helped her get up and hugged her.
"I…I… don't think I'll be able to live without him…" She cried on Budo's shoulder as Riku entered the hallway to find them in this position.
"Bollocks, you just met the guy! But if you want him, I do indeed have a plan of how to get you and Yamada-san together, I need him to keep away from Kokona. I can distract her until next week. Masuta-san, you can distract Osana. This should be easy if we team up." Riku suggested.
"Please, Masuta-senpai, do it for me…" Yan-chan said through tears. Budo shook his head and sighed in disappointment.
"Sure, sure. First, she has to let all this steam off. People will think that you are nuts if you don't and we don't want anyone to get hurt. Let's go up to the club and take care of that. Some sparring might help you, Yan-chan." Budo suggested and let Yan-chan go, who looked at him emotionless again:
"It is on!" She said, wiping the remaining tears on her face and taking out her martial arts bandana and following Budo as he and Riku made way to the Martial Arts Club.